Fractured
by Cow as White as Milk
Summary: Sometimes the things you wish for should NOT be touched...Join timeless characters in a crossover fairy tale! RR please! Chapter 10 is up!
1. The First Curse

The First Curse  
  
In 'Into the woods,' we never really know the story behind 'the Witch'. Well, I had my own idea about whom she really was.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Into the Woods, so please don't take my money.  
  
**Narrator: Once upon a time, in a far off kingdom...  
**  
Pansy Parkinson was never truly beautiful. Oh, yes, she did have her fair share of boys during her Hogwarts years, but she had never been considered beautiful. In fact, It was quite the opposite. 'Pug-nose Pansy' they had called her. It was a name that made her grind her teeth every time she heard it.  
  
Her last year at Hogwarts had been an eventful one. Voldemort had finally gained enough strength and followers to lead a deadly strike against her school. Much to her parent's dismay, she had chosen to fight with Professor Dumbledore and Harry Potter.  
  
During that last year, her views had changed somewhat. She had been witness to a horrible accident involving none other than Draco Malfoy, the son of Voldemort's right hand man. Blaise and one of Draco's goons, Goyle, started messing around while the four of them were climbing the changing staircases. They were punching and wrestling playfully and enticing laughs out of both Draco and Pansy. Soon, they were laughing so hard, they didn't realize that the stairs had begun to move.  
  
What happened next seemed to move in a time dimension slower than our own. Goyle lost his balance and rammed right into Malfoy sending the blond hurtling off of the stairs. Pansy watched in horror as his body came closer and closer to the ground. She herself was too shocked to move, but one lone voice shouted out.  
  
From so high up, the voice was unintelligible and Pansy leaned over the railing to get a better look. She cast a simple spell to enhance her eyesight and watched as one of the resident 'mudbloods', Hermione Granger, tended to Draco, whom she had just saved. Her hate for muggle born witches and wizards died that day, as did Draco's seeing as he had married his muggle born rescuer weeks after the war had ended.  
  
The war was awful. She never wanted to go through anything remotely like that again. She watched as her friend and mentors fought valiantly to defend what was right. She can remember her mother cursing her for defecting and turning against them. It was an unusual curse and one in which no one could find the counter curse.  
  
In the end, she stood amongst a sea of dead death eaters, as well as friends who had perished. Among them: Professor Dumbledore, Professor Sprout, Blaise, Millicent and one of her newest friends Ron Weasley.  
  
If that wasn't bad enough, there was still the curse she had been hit with. It was said in a language that she had not recognized. But the results were devastating to her. She later found that any witch or wizard who got within ten meters of her would experience severe pain.  
  
Defeated, she packed up her trunk and left the wizarding world forever. She ended up finding a place to live on the other side of the forbidden forest. Along the edge where the forest's canopy started to thin out to create a dense wooded area. The magic wasn't concentrated there as it was in the Forbidden Forest, which was probably a good thing as there were muggles who lived on this side of the forest.  
  
Lots and lots of muggles.  
  
To Pansy, they were a strange lot. Always talking down to her and sneering at her. The only ones who hadn't were the baker and his family who lived next door. Yet, that could be because they just avoided her.  
  
So one day, the lonely witch pulled out her trunk and at the bottom her hand brushed against something. She pulled out a rather large bag that held packets of seeds. She examined each packet and set them aside. Then one large packet caught her eye. On it, it was marked '_Special Beans_', and in fine print she read:  
  
_** 'Plant a bean on magic soil, for with this its growth will foil.  
Day by Day, prune the top. This will help its growth to stop.  
But if you were to loose a bean, your punishment will be the worst you've seen.'  
**_  
Each day Pansy tended to her seeds until they had become a glorious garden, one in which Professor Sprout would have been happy to tend to. She was surprised that the garden gave her a special sort of peace. She even found herself talking to it at times as if it were a friend.  
  
Her world was relatively perfect, minus the lack of true friends of course. Then one night, just as the sun had set and a shadow came over her garden, she heard a noise. Grabbing her wand, she walked outside to find a man ripping up her garden. 


	2. The Second Curse

The Second Curse  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Into the Woods, so please don't take my money.  
  
**Narrator: Then one night, just as the sun had set and a shadow came over her garden, she heard a noise. Grabbing her wand, she walked outside to find a man ripping up her garden.  
**  
Pansy couldn't believe her eyes. Why of all things would someone do this to her? She had put her heart and soul into her garden and treated it as if it were her child, and now to see it being subjected to thievery.  
  
She crept forward in the shadows to get a better look at the person who was doing this to her. Ducking behind an olive tree, she watched as he gathered the vegetables he wanted and moved to leave.  
  
"What are you doing?" Pansy asked in a sickly sweet voice.  
  
The man made a noise that was something between a scream and a snort before dropping everything he had ripped up.  
  
Narrowing her eyes, Pansy walked into the moonlight to cast her glare onto the man's face. Now close up, she could see that it was the baker from next door. "I asked you a question."  
  
"Um," The baker stammered. "Well, you see. It's my wife, she's with child."  
  
"Yeah, so?" Pansy prodded.  
  
"Well, she had an appetite for vegetables." He replied.  
  
Pansy scoffed. "So, you thought you'd steal mine?"  
  
She watched the baker shift from foot to foot through her lowered lashes. "Answer me!" She snapped.  
  
"Please understand." He stammered. "I'm poor, and can hardly afford to feed my family. My son is growing up so fast, and is eating us out of house and home. Please let me keep the vegetables..."

Rolling her eyes, Pansy held up her hand to halt his speech. "Fine." She said. Narrator: The baker happy with the witch's good-natured donation turned to leave.  
  
"Wait." She said with a dangerous edge to her voice. "I'm not finished." Pansy let a small smirk creep its way onto her face. "You ripped up my garden without asking. So, fair is fair: you can let me have the baby that your wife will bare, and we'll call it square."  
  
"You wish for me to give you my child?"  
  
Pansy shrugged. "It's either that, or I cut off your right hand for stealing. I heard muggles do that in some places, but then of course if I did that, you wouldn't be able to do your job and thus your family will starve." She paused for effect. "Oh course, since I'm such a nice person, I'll let you choose your penalty."  
  
"Fine." The baker said. "I will give you my child, but only if you promise to treat it as you would your own child."  
  
"You are hardly in a position to make me promise anything." Pansy huffed. "But, I've always wanted a child. So I give you my word it will not be harmed."  
  
The baker nodded. "Then you may have the child."  
  
Pansy watched as the baker hefted up the vegetables and climbed over the wall. As soon as he was out of sight, she felt a slight roll beneath her feet and then was sent down to the ground as the earth convulsed, causing her to hear objects inside her home crash to the floor. She screamed as lightning flashed all around her while her body writhed in pain.  
  
She clutched at her head as she heard voice after voice shift through her brains. Saying over and over:

_** 'Plant a bean on magic soil, for with this its growth will foil. **_

_** Day by Day, prune the top. This will help its growth to stop. **_

_** But if you were to loose a bean, your punishment will be the worst you've seen.'**_

Laughter filled the air as Pansy scratched at her face and ears, as she tried to get rid of the voices. She screamed out in horror when she realized to late that her nails had thickened and curled into claws that were now covered with her own blood.  
  
The lightning flashed again and she caught sight of her reflection in the small stream that flowed right through her garden. Slowly, she limped forward to get a better look.  
  
Suddenly, the quakes and the lightning stopped and the moon shone again. Bathing her face in light and allowing her to see her reflection clearly.  
  
Tears slowly found their way down hernow ugly, ragged face as the voices faded one by one until there was a single lone voice left and this one spoke out of her mirrored image.  
  
_"You never did follow my instructions did you, daughter?"_ It said.  
  
"Mother?" Pansy asked.  
  
_"You betrayed me. You deserve to die, but instead I'm leaving you with this last curse. From now on, you will live as the old and ugly witch that you see before you now and everyone you love will be ashamed of you."  
_  
Pansy jumped back with a screech, lost her balance and tumbled into her prized rose bushes. 


	3. A Promise Made

A Promise Made  
  
**Narrator: And so it was that the baker returned to his wife.  
**  
The baker sauntered dejectedly up the road that led to his front walk. He couldn't quite yet believe what he had gotten himself into. Surely, his wife will hate him now for sure. What was he thinking, giving away his blood to this...this...witch? Cursing to himself for calling the poor girl names, he raised his head to take a good look at his home. Even from this distance, he could already see the dark brown head of hair that belonged to his nine-year-old son who had already become quite the baker himself.  
  
How was he going to break it to him that he had given away his not yet born brother or sister to a young woman he hardly knew? Who was he kidding? He didn't know her at all. He had no ideas what her intentions will be. And his wife! She was going to be grief stricken. Shifting the vegetables that he had been holding in his arms, he walked slowly forward.  
  
It was then that his son, Joseph, had caught sight of him. The Baker could distinctly hear his son call out 'Father is home,' before the front door flew open and his son raced out to meet him.  
  
"Father!" The boy yelled in greeting. "Did you get them?"  
  
The baker glanced at all the vegetables in his arms before turning his eyes up toward the sky. Sometimes, the boy was as daft as his mother, he thought before smiling down at his son.  
  
"Yes, boy," he said with a grimace. "I got what your mother asked of me."  
  
The boy jumped up and down gleefully and clapped his hands. "Can I help you carry some of the greens father?"  
  
The baker let out a deep sigh and handed over half of his load. The boy grinned happily as he took the load an ran towards a very frail and pregnant woman that was holding open the front door. She was a beautiful sight with her golden-yellow hair gleaming in the light of the moon. She was young, as she had not yet reached her twenty-seventh birthday, but she was a good wife. She was loyal and loving, traits that showed up equally in her voice. She was a beautiful singer and every night, she would sing both he and his son to sleep.  
  
"Are these for me?" She asked her son who nodded happily and ran into the house. She gave the boy a big smile just before turning it on her husband. "I can't believe you actually went against your morals and stole these for me."  
  
The baker watched as an amused look crossed her face. "And I certainly can not believe you actually got away with it." She continued.

Pushing past her, the baker walked over to the table and deposited the rest of the vegetables on the table next to the small heap his son had placed there. "Then don't believe it." He mumbled.  
  
His wife waddled over. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"  
  
'Women', the baker thought with a roll of his eyes. "I said. 'then don't believe it.'"  
  
The woman in front of him gave him her famous confused glare. "I don't understand."  
  
Slamming his hand down on the table in frustration and startling both his son and his wife, the baker sat down in front of the vegetables. "Son, go outside and play."  
  
The boy gave him a look that mirrored his mothers. "But Father, it's dark out."  
  
"Do as I say!" He yelled. "Just don't wonder past the gates."  
  
The baker watched as his son exited the door. He didn't bother even looking at his wife, for he knew that she would be leveling him with a look that was anything but friendly.  
  
"Bloody hell," She swore.  
  
The baker cringed. The last time she spoke like that, was when he over heard her yelling at her older sister for having an affair and later running off with the married, dairy man down the road. Granted he really couldn't blame the man for who he was married to. The woman was a down right shrew who did nothing but dote on her two-year-old, son, Jack. Now, that crisis was over, and he had yet to see where this new one was going to take him.  
  
"What did you do that was so bad that our own son couldn't hear what you had to say?" She enquired.  
  
When the baker didn't answer, she yelled out. "Well?"  
  
The baker launched into the story about being caught by the young woman who owned the vegetables and then about how he was given a choice. "She said that I was to either give her our child, or suffer a 'muggle' I believe that was the term she used, punishment of cutting my hand off."  
  
"'Muggle,' you say?" She asked quietly with fear breaking into her voice.  
  
The baker nodded. "Yes, do you know what it means."  
  
Swallowing back a lump of bile that entered her throat, the woman nodded. "'Muggle' is the term that the wizarding community that I was born into uses for non-magic folk."  
  
The baker gave her an confused look. "I thought you said that the term was 'squib'."  
  
She shook her head. "A 'squib' is someone who was born of a witch that has no powers. I'm a 'squib' were as you are a 'muggle'."  
  
The baker nodded his understanding. "But that means that..."  
  
"Young Miss. Parkinson is a witch." His wife whimpered before dropping to her knees and crying out in pain.


	4. Anne & Ella

Anne & Ella  
  
**Narrator: So it was that the baker's wife became ill with worry, and the baker and his son could do nothing but prepare for the day that was rapidly approaching.  
**  
Young Joseph paced the kitchen as he listened to his father complain about everything under the sun. He had noticed that sales had been down ever since that day that his father had come home with the witches vegetables. Yes, he knew that she was a witch. Ever since that day, that was the one thing his father complained about the most. "No good witches, this, and untrustworthy magic, that."  
  
The boy had no idea why his father had a sudden change in heart towards Miss. Parkinson, but he had a feeling that it was for reasons that were in a sense, bad. His fathers daily cursing frightened him to the point that he was frightened to even look in the direction of her cottage. He was even forbidden to play outside with his friends Anne and Ella.  
  
They had been by his house repeatedly just to see if he wanted hang out. He sadly had to tell them that he had to stay inside and help his father with the baking. Anne seemed a bit perturbed by the news, which didn't surprise him in the least bit. She was always in his face about something or other.  
  
What surprised him was Ella. She was always outgoing and happy, but ever since the death of her mother, she started to change. The immediate difference was the sadness in her eyes, but that was expected. After all, the person who loved her most in the world was suddenly gone. Yet, the day she appeared at his door with Anne, her demeanor had changed completely. She seemed to almost hide behind Anne as if she were afraid of the world. She even treated his dismissal of their invitation as if he had given her an order.  
  
After they left, he turned to his father who was now complaining about how he could never find the cheesecloth. Rolling his eyes, he spoke up. "Father?"  
  
His father glanced up from his search for the elusive cheesecloth at the sound of his son's voice. "Yes, what is it?" He asked.  
  
The boy walked closer to him with a slightly confused look on his face. "Why was Ella acting so afraid?"  
  
His father stood up and gave his son a once over. He knew that the boy cared for his friend, but he wasn't sure if it was his place to tell him what was going on in the young girls life. He knew what it was of course, because it was hard not to hear the gossip that seemed to spread like butter through their small village.  
  
The baker walked over to the table that his son was standing in front of and sat down. One look at his son's concerned look, and he decided that he would tell his son as much as he could without dipping into other people's business. "Son," he said. "Last week, Ella's father remarried."  
  
The boy cocked his head in his father's direction. "Why would he do that? What about Ella's mother?"  
  
The baker sighed. "Son, I suspect that her father remarried because he wanted Ella to be raised by a woman."  
  
The boy took in this information with a sad look on his face. He personally didn't know what he would do if he lost his parents. He assumed that he would just get used to the idea. He really didn't have any choice, in the matter. Someone had to watch over the bakery. Walking over to the far counter, he picked up the cheesecloth and handed it to his father. "Here you go."  
  
"Thank you, s..." The baker was interrupted by a loud scream coming from the bedchamber. Handing the cloth back to his son, he ran into the next room. 


	5. A Promise Kept

A Promise Kept  
  
Disclaimer: Same as before...  
  
**Narrator: This time when the Baker's wife let out this no less than gut wrenching scream, Pansy could also hear it, and she rushed next door to see what all the commotion was about. The story unfolds.  
**  
Joseph heard the knocking on the door, even over his mother's painful screams, which said a lot since they were so loud that his brains wanted to ooze out of his ears. In fact, he wouldn't exactly consider what he was hearing as knocking, but battering. Curious to see what it was all about, he went to open the door.  
  
The sight that greeted him was no less than terrifying. He could tell that it was a woman, but only barely. She was hunched and crippled. At least he thought she was as she needed a cane to get around. She wore heavy hooded robes that almost covered her face and straggly grey hair. The boy secretly wished that the robes did cover everything, because the light from the lamp caught her face.  
  
Her complexion was sallow and her skin was wrinkled, cracked and housed warts. Her eyebrows had grown together so much that they hooded her eyes making them seem black. The woman's nose was so crooked that it seemed like she may have broken it more than a few times, and her lips were thin with dead skin hanging off of them. To top it off, her teeth were snaggle- toothed and she was drooling.  
  
The boy shivered, unable to contain his disgust. Another scream came out of the back room and the boy's shoulders hunched. He was afraid for his mother, and the sight of the old, ugly woman at his door didn't help matters in the least. Turning back to the old woman, he spoke the only thing that came to his mind. "We have no bread." He said in a shaky voice.  
  
Pansy took in the sight of the boy in front of her. She honestly felt bad for him as she was sure that her outward appearance frightened him. Still, he was able to speak to her as if he was in charge of the family business. The boy was strong, and she could do nothing but hope that he would end up being nothing like his father. In fact, she didn't think this family needed to have any chances for future descendants to end up like his father, because, that would be a shame.  
  
Still, she had a hard time believing that the man had given up his own flesh just so that he would spare one of his hands. She knew very well that the boy did most of the work at the bakery while his father did nothing but sit back, curse and complain. So the reason behind giving up his child was definitely a stupid one in Pansy's eyes. She rolled her eyes at the thought. At least some good will come out of this. She would be able st spare at least one of the Baker's children from growing up with a selfish father.  
  
She bent down a little further to get a good look at the boy. He was a smart one, she could see it in his eyes. Smiling slightly she stood a little straighter. "I don't want any bread." She told him. "I'm here to see your father."  
  
The boy stared back at her with a horrified look. He understood now. This woman, was the witch that his father warned him about, but he was confused because the last time he had seen her she was young, and even pretty by his standards. What scared him the most was the thought of what happened to make her look the way she did.  
  
"Why do you need to see him?" He asked. "He's kind of busy at the moment."  
  
Pansy raised her one big eyebrow at the boy, and looked past him when she heard the distinct sound of a wailing infant coming from the back. "Son, I suggest you move aside," She said. "He's not busy anymore."  
  
The boy obediently moved and Pansy limped past him and into the next room. She was saddened to see the sad look cross the face of the baker's wife as she strolled over to pick up the baby that was crying in the crib next to the bed. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, but Pansy blinked them back, as she realized how much blood the woman had lost.  
  
"Don't take the Baby!" The baker cried.  
  
"Please!" The woman wailed.  
  
Pansy clutched the child to her as her heart was breaking for the woman. "I will allow you to say goodby to your child." She told the woman.  
  
The baker stepped forward protesting. "Please have mercy! My wife doesn't deserve this punishment!"  
  
She placed the child in it's mothers arms, and Pansy nodded in agreement with the backer. Turning to face him, she sneered at him. "You will leave this room." She said as she followed him to the door.  
  
"I don't understand." He told her.  
  
Pansy got in his face. "Your wife is hemorrhaging." She whispered. "She needs these last few minutes of life alone with the child. It's not like you truly care anyway."  
  
The man's eyes widened in shock as she slammed the door in his face. Pansy flicked her cane at the door and warded it. She put a silencing charm on the room as well so that the bakers angry shouts were drowned out.  
  
Walking back over to the bed, Pansy magically cleaned the woman up as best as she could so that she would be more comfortable. "Are you really going to take my little girl?" The woman asked, her voice raspy from screaming.  
  
Pansy smiled. She was hoping that the child would be a girl. "Yes, I am." She said softly. "But it's for her own good."  
  
The woman frowned. "How is it for her own good when she will grow up without her true mother?"  
  
This time the tears did fall from Pansy's eyes as realization dawned across the woman's face. "Am I dying?"  
  
Pansy nodded. "She needs a mother, and I promise I'll do my best."  
  
The woman hugged the child closer to her. She didn't want this woman to take her child, but she had no choice. The witch was right. Her little girl needed to grow up understanding that she could possibly turn out to be a witch as well. Miss Parkinson was the best person to be able to do that.  
  
"The only reason that I agree with you," She informed Pansy. "Is because Wizardry runs in my family. She needs to grow up knowing that."  
  
Worry pounced on Pansy's heart as she took another look at the little girl. If she did in fact turn out to be a witch, she would have to give her up someday. She didn't want the child to be in pain because of the curse that was laid on her. In case that happened, she needed to get some affairs put in order.  
  
Reaching up, Pansy placed one gnarled hand over the woman's forehead and began to stroke her hair. She seemed to relax a bit at her touch. "What were you going to name the child?" She asked.  
  
Pansy shrugged. "I thought you should do it."  
  
The baker's wife gave her a genuine smile. "I was going to name her Rapunzel. It was my great grandmothers name." She laughed, although it came out as a cough indicating to Pansy that she was definitely in her last moments. "I wonder if the old bat is still alive."  
  
"What is her surname?" She asked.  
  
"Black." She rasped.  
  
Pansy gasped for air. "Is Sirius your cousin?"  
  
"I don't... know. I was... exiled for... being... a squ..."  
  
Pansy watched the woman fall into a deep slumber before she could finish her sentence. Gathering the child into her arms once again, Pansy cried. Her tears were angry ones. She was angry that this nice woman had to die without knowing her little girl, She was angry that the child had a bastard father, but most of all she was angry that she couldn't help the boy as well.  
  
Pansy left the room after the woman's chest rose for the last time and was immediately accosted by an angry baker. "My wife is dead, don't take the baby too."  
  
Baking away from him, she noticed the young boy look up in surprise. Apparently he did not know that his mother had been dying. Pansy growled, hating the baker even more. "I'm taking the child," she sneered. "But for some reason I'm not mollified."  
  
The baker's eyes widened as she stalked out of the house with little Rapunzel still in her arms, and before the baker could follow her, she turned and cast a spell on the house.  
  
Hope you enjoyed it!!! 


	6. Man of the House

Man of the House  
  
Disclaimer: Read first chapter.  
  
**Narrator: Five days after the boy's mother died, they buried her.  
**  
The boy stayed behind after everyone left since he needed time alone with his mother. He and his father couldn't afford a proper burial, so all he had left of his mother was a pile of dirt. Two twin streams ran down his cheeks as he clutched a small bag in his hands. Ella had given him the bag with her condolences.  
  
He had no idea what was in the bag, but it meant a lot to him that she had the heart to give it to him. She stood by him through the entire funeral which was more than what his father did. In fact, his father left halfway through the service.  
  
Everyone that the boy new personally showed up. Anne and her parents, the Dairyman's wife and Jack, the sartor and her newborn daughter Amy, and of course Ella's family. The boy cringed at the thought of Ella's new family. Her sisters, or rather step-sisters, were snobby and mean. They did nothing but boss Ella around. He learned today that their names were Florinda and Lucinda. He also overheard her step mother calling her a name that sounded suspiciously like Cinderella.  
  
He also caught a glimpse of the witch hiding in the trees holding a bundle in her arms. Upon seeing that she had the gall to show up, he clenched his fists so hard the cracked. He had no idea why he was angry at her, because technically she did nothing to him. She was just strange, ugly, and he had no idea why she was with his mother when she died.  
  
Most of all though, he was angry at his father. He may be young, but he was smart, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that his mother spent the last weeks of her life hating his father. He also saw that the witch seemed to also harbor those feelings as well. The boy knew that in order for his mother to hate, his father had to have done something irreparable.  
  
Pushing that thought aside, the boy kneeled onto the cold ground and opened the small bag clutched in his hands. Inside there were many tiny seeds and a note.  
  
_**There are other ways to remember your mother **_

_** Love, Ella  
**_  
The small streams on his face turned into rivers when he read the note. Ella understood what he was going through, since she herself had lost her mother not to long before. He remembered watching from a distance as Ella planted a branch at the head of her mothers grave.  
  
Understanding what he had to do, the boy spread the seeds over the freshly turned soil and left to return home.  
  
The walk seemed longer than it actually was, and the cold air that penetrated his clothes didn't help, but alas he reached his destination. Walking through the front door he stopped dead in his tracks. His house was destroyed. The kitchen had been gutted by fire and there was no sign of his father.  
  
"Joseph?"  
  
The boy whirled around at the sound of his name and watched as Anne walked over the threshold with a basket of flowers hanging from one of her hands.  
  
"What happened?" She asked.  
  
Joseph shrugged. "It looks like a baking accident. I don't know where my father is."  
  
The young girl nodded and took the flowers into the bedroom which was remarkably untouched by the fire and returned wearing his mothers apron. "I'll help you clean this up until your father gets back." She said as she grabbed what was left of a chair and hauled it outside.  
  
Pushing an uneasy feeling of loneliness aside, he followed her actions and began the process of rebuilding.  
  
AN: I know this was another short chapter, but it was necessary. Hopefully I'll update soon!!!


	7. Watchful Eye

Watchful Eye  
  
**Narrator: As for Rapunzel, Pansy was careful not to associate her with the muggles of the outside world. It was for this reason that she shut her in a doorless tower. As she grew, Pansy kept a close eye on all of her neighbors.  
**  
Heavenly music filled the air as Pansy limped up to the tower and called forth to the beautiful girl within it's walls. "Rapunzel! Rapunzel, let down your hair to me!"  
  
The music stopped and a young woman of seventeen poked her head out the window. "Mother, is that you?"  
  
Pansy smiled. "Who else would it be dear."  
  
Seemingly satisfied, the girl lowered the longest, most beautiful, locks of hair the color of golden corn. Pansy's fingers ran through the soft, silky, strands before she gripped them tight. Once her hold was secure, she scaled the hair as if it were a rope. All the while, she tried her hardest to drown out the sounds of pain that were coming from her daughter.  
  
Pansy hated doing this to her, but there really was no other alternative. She was to crippled to carry a ladder all the way from town, and she sure as hell wasn't going to just leave a ladder near the tower where someone might find it. Sure she could use magic to get into the tower, but it was dangerous. The woods were affected slightly from the forbidden forest, and with the two curses that were put on her, her magic sometimes backfired. So when in the, she only used her wand for small things. Like charming Rapunzel's brush to untangle her hair by itself.  
  
Crawling the rest of the way through the window, Pansy walked over and plopped down onto her daughter's bed. The body that she had been cursed with eighteen years ago was getting much to old for climbing hair up a ten foot tower three times a day.  
  
She had spent the last twelve years putting Rapunzel through immense magical studies, and she sucked up the knowledge for there was nothing better for her to do. The muggles from the town were too primitive to have anything to amuse her daughter. So everyday, she climbed the hair in the morning to give Rapunzel her morning lessons. They would break so that Pansy could go and get them lunch. When she returned they would eat, study some more, then take another break so that Pansy could go get dinner. She would return at sunset and the two would talk over dinner about what was happening in the town.  
  
To Pansy there was no doubt in her mind that her daughter was indeed a witch. She was extremely proud when her daughter had received her letter from Hogwarts when she turned eleven, but her hope that her daughter may have a normal life was shattered when both Draco and Hermione Malfoy stopped by the tower to receive Rapunzel and take her to Hogwarts.  
  
Pansy had made arrangements with the couple that if Rapunzel was indeed magical, they would take her in and treat her as family. They were all to happy to agree. But, when the day came to retrieve her, they couldn't even get within ten feet of her hair before dropping to the ground in pain.  
  
Watching this happen from a safe distance, Pansy burst into tears. Somehow, her mother's first curse had transferred to her daughter.  
  
Now, almost seven years after that incident, her daughter was an accomplished witch in her own right. She even obtained a wand for her to use by owl. Of course they had to go through a trial and error stage first, where they sent five wands that didn't fit Rapunzel back to where they came from.  
  
Pansy was thankful to receive help in home schooling her daughter from her trusted professors at Hogwarts. She even found it quite amusing when Rapunzel had taken a liking to Professor Snape and the subject of potions. She was extremely surprised that Snape seemed to welcome her daughter as a friend when her started what Rapunzel liked to call 'Owl class', where Snape would tutor her by way of post.  
  
"Mother?"  
  
Pansy opened her eyes as the sound of her daughter's voice dragged her from her thoughts.  
  
"Yes, dear." Pansy asked.  
  
Rapunzel mirrored her mother's earlier actions and plopped down onto the bed beside her. "What were the muggles like today?" She asked. 


	8. Muggles

Muggles  
  
**Narrator: Muggles indeed! The one subject that Pansy was all to happy to talk about.  
**  
Pansy rolled her eyes. Once again, the topic had turned to muggles. In her eyes they were all a strange lot. Always have been, always will be. As she was fond of saying. She had watched them through the years if only to study their behavior patterns. One thing that she did like about the muggles in her village, was that they were not like most of the other muggles. Meaning, that they were not technomuggles. Muggle technology did nothing but give Pansy a royal headache.  
  
She was thankful that the muggles in her village seemed to be stuck in the past because she didn't have to time travel just to get caught up with the way they did things. They even used language with slang that she understood. But, they were still muggles.  
  
Things had changed since Rapunzel's real mother had died, and not all of it was for good. Joseph, the baker's son had lost both of his parents in one week. One to childbirth and the other to what everyone, except Pansy, seemed to believe was a baking accident. He had grown up quickly and married one of his childhood friends, Anne. Last she heard, they were trying to get pregnant.  
  
The idiot dairyman, Jack, was currently struggling to feed himself and his mother. However, lately their last cow had gone dry. Pansy's hypothesis was that the cow wouldn't give any milk, because like Jack's father, it was looking for a way out.  
  
As for Ella (or Cinderella as she was commonly know these days), she was trapped in her own house slaving for every other woman who lived there. All the while her own father is turning a blind eye, and had been for years. Pansy actually felt sorry for the young girl, even if she was muggle.  
  
The sartor had actually accepted Pansy as a friend over the past years as they would barter clothes for vegetables. The sartor wound up making the finest muggle clothes and robes for Rapunzel and herself all due to the fact that her daughter ate everything insight, including the prized produce that came from Pansy's garden. Not that Pansy complained though. Rapunzel looked like a princess and she looked like a muggle picture that she had seen once of a weimaraner dressed as a queen.  
  
As for the royal family, there was no love in her heart for them. To Pansy, they were the worst sort of muggle. All they did was go around believing that they were superior because of a title. Pansy rolled her eyes again. She hated them most, because she used to be just like them.  
  
Turning her head to look at her daughter, Pansy got up and stretched her old muscles. Pulling dinner out of her pocket, she walked over to the table and enlarged it. Rapunzel smiled and walked over to help her mother. Taking out her wand, she whispered a heating spell so that their food would be warm.  
  
Pansy sat down on one of the chairs and leaned back. Her daughter still wanted to hear about the muggles. "The baker and his wife are still trying to get pregnant. As of now," Pansy said with a sigh as she picked up her fork. "That is all of the interesting news in that town."  
  
Rapunzel wrinkle her nose. "But mother," she said. "They've been trying since they got married ten years ago. That's hardly news."  
  
Shrugging, Pansy stabbed at a leaf on her plate. "It's probably a good thing that they can't get pregnant."  
  
"Why would you say that?"  
  
Shoving the leaf into her mouth, she replied. "His father was a pusillanimous git of the lowest order. They don't need to be breeding any more of those."  
  
Rapunzel twisted up her lip in a smirk that could rival Draco's.  
  
Pansy smiled. "Of all the traits you could have gotten from the Black family, it had to be that damn smirk."  
  
"Got a problem with it?" Rapunzel asked playfully.  
  
Cackling, Pansy pointed her fork at her daughter. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a Malfoy."  
  
Her daughter's smirk grew into a smile. "Thanks for the compliment, mother."  
  
"Not all would say that was a compliment," Pansy said with a frown.

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	9. Breakthrough!

Break Through!

**Narrator: Pansy and Rapunzel sat quietly through the rest of the meal, but the tower's peaceful surroundings were soon to be disturbed.  
**  
Quietly, Pansy watched as her daughter finished her salad. She knew that she couldn't fault Rapunzel for inquiring about the muggles so much, after all, the girl was part muggle herself. But, she couldn't deny that the questions asked always hit a sore spot. She had always tried her best to keep her daughter from the muggles, for many reasons. Pansy had to admit to herself on many occasions that most of those reasons were downright selfish, but she still refused to let Rapunzel out of her sight. She had lost many to the world, and she refused to lose her daughter as well.  
  
Getting up from her chair and leaving her now empty plate behind, Pansy walked over to the tower window. After scanning the area outside, she glanced around the world she had created for her daughter. It was in essence, perfect.  
  
The room was as big as the potions classroom at Hogwarts, but it was without the draftiness of the dungeons. It was everything her daughter could have asked for in a world. Although this particular thought did nothing to calm her nerves. Rapunzel was curious, and that was the quality that convinced Pansy that the perfect little world would never last.  
  
She had already begun to see a change in her daughter and this caused an uneasy feeling to rise in Pansy's gut. For the first time in her life, she felt as if her daughter was hiding something. She had written to Snape about it, hoping that he would have an idea about why Rapunzel's demeanor had changed. She had figured that since her daughter shared everything with the potions master, he would be the likely person to ask.  
  
Sighing, she turned back to watch the outside world once again. She hadn't been watching for two minutes when a gleam of silver caught her eye. "What in the world?" She asked to no one in particular. But Rapunzel had heard her, and walked over to stand next to her mother.  
  
"It's an owl," Rapunzel stated. "But I've never seen it before."  
  
Pansy squinted. The owl seemed familiar to her. Very familiar. In fact, the closer it got, the more she recognized it. "I have," she told her daughter.  
  
"Who's is it?" Rapunzel asked.  
  
Pansy smiled as the 'gleam of silver' turned directly into the path of the moon light. It was now clear to see that the owl was actually a brilliant white. "That's Hedwig." She said as she gave her daughter a grin that would strike fear into anyone other than her daughter.  
  
"Who's Hedwig? And why are they sending us an owl." Pansy chuckled. "No, the owl is Hedwig. She belongs to Harry Potter."  
  
Rapunzel's eye's flew wide. "Harry Potter? As in THE Harry Potter?"  
  
She new of course the stories of her mother's school year. Stories of how she had hated Potter and how they became friends. Her favorite of course was when her mother helped Potter, and the others who were fighting for the light, bring Voldemort to his knees.  
  
Both mother and daughter backed away from the window as Hedwig flew over to the table and began picking uneaten lettuce off of Rapunzel's plate.  
  
Walking over to the bird, Pansy took the letter that was attached to it's leg. She could tell immediately that the letter was not from Harry Potter, but rather Hermione Malfoy. Curious, she ripped open the letter and cried out in relief.  
  
"Rapunzel, lower your hair. Something came up and I have to go." She said.  
  
Pansy gave her daughter a pointed look as she was surprised that the girl didn't even argue. It was almost as if she were glad to see her go. Pansy shook that last thought from her head as she began to climb down her daughter's hair. Once her feet were on the ground, Pansy stared up at her daughter. "I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
Rapunzel only nodded before disappearing into the tower, more than likely she went to take care of Hedwig so that the owl would be strong for her journey back home.  
  
Sighing, Pansy turned and walked as quickly as she possibly could towards the village gripping the valuable parchment in her hands. Valuable because Hermione, Draco, Harry and Snape had found her cure.

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A/N I hope you enjoyed it.

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	10. The Visit

The Visit  
  
Wow!!! Chapter ten! This one is short, but It will be updated soon!!! Some quotes in this chapter are taken from Into the woods, but not all of them. Just so you know that I don't own everything written here. wink ENJOY!!!

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**Narrator: Because Joseph, the baker, lost his mother and father at a young age, he couldn't wait to have a family of his own, and he was vexed that up until now, all endeavors had failed.  
**  
The next afternoon, Anne watched as the sartor's daughter, Amy, left the bakery with a bunch of goods for her grandmother. She shook her head, as she remembered that encounter. She was sorry to say it, but Amy ate like a pig, and she wasn't even sure how many sweets she would have left by the time she got to her grandmother's house.  
  
She was torn from her thoughts by a nock at the door. Looking up she watched her husband go to see who it was.  
  
"Who could that be?" He asked her.  
  
Shrugging, she replied. "Amy just took the last loaf of bread."  
  
Furrowing his brow, he peeked out the window. "It's the old witch from next door." He said as he opened the door.  
  
The hunched fofrm of Pansy stepped over the threshold, and sneered at the couple. Over the years, she had come to dislike the couple sometimes. Rapunzel's brother, Joseph, had grown into a man with many similarities to his father and he seemed to let his wife push him around. what he needed was a backbone, or so Pansy thought.  
  
Assuming, as they usually do, that she was there for a loaf or two, they told her that they had none.  
  
Pansy rolled her eyes. "Of course you have no bread." She snapped.  
  
"Then," Joseph started. "What do you wish?"  
  
"It's not what I wish, it's what you wish." At the couples confused faces, she pointed her cane at Anne's stomach. "No bun in that oven,"she stated. "Is there?"  
  
Joseph sent her an incredulous look. "Where do you get off making statements like that?"  
  
"I'll tell you where I get off," Pansy said with a glare. "Eighteen years ago, I placed a spell on your house."  
  
Anne immediately covered her mouth, in shock, with her hand.  
  
"What spell?" Her husband inquired.  
  
Pansy rolled her eyes and sat down on an old rickety stool. Sighing, she proceeded to tell them about the night Rapunzel was born. But, she conveniently left out information about her, including her name. All she told them was that a child had been born.  
  
"I had a brother?" The baker asked.  
  
Rolling her eyes again, she replied. "What, you think that all children are born as boys, and that certain parts fall off when some of them reach a certain age? You had a sister, you daft idiot."  
  
The baker bristled at the insult and his wife blushed. Before they could reply to that particular comment, Pansy continued by telling them about her special beans and how she made a deal with the baker.  
  
"I don't understand," Joseph said. "What does all this have to do with a spell?"  
  
"Let's just say that when I collected the child, I wasn't mollified. So, I cursed your house to a childless existence." Pansy informed them as if something like this happened every day.  
  
The couple gaped at her. Pansy smiled. She used to love saying off the wall things when she was in school just to get a reaction like that. Apparently she still loved it. Smirking, she leveled the baker with a glare. "I'm going to give you a chance to lift the spell," She said. _And help me in return_, she added to herself as an afterthought.

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